War Wounds
by RosannaLouise
Summary: The immediate aftermath of the Narada, with Jim hiding his wounds from the bridge crew. Hurt!Jim and slight Bones/Jim at the end. Please R&R rated for language.


Jim was exhausted. At that precise moment in time all he could fathom was the bone deep weariness that saturated his entire body. The fatigue ran so deep that it was all he could comprehend, so deep was his exhaustion that it mitigated even the sharp stabbing pain of his broken ribs. _Well almost_, he amended to himself after changing his position in the captain's chair caused the pain to flare up again. _Captain,_ he thought to himself, isn't that a lovely sounding word, _might as well enjoy it while I can._ Smiling slightly to himself he thought to the events that had brought him to this point. Being smuggled aboard the Enterprise, performing a risky space jump, jumping after Sulu, Getting marooned _and hadn't that been a picnic with the giant ice monsters,_ and finally beaming aboard the Narada and getting his ass handed to him by two thoroughly pissed Romulans. This was why Jim was sitting as he was now, in the Captain's chair fighting to simply keep awake and trying to ignore his body's various injuries. Jim also hadn't slept since the night before the 'maru and had been determined to stay in his _however temporary_ chair that he had not left the bridge since the 'incident', he had however insisted that his bridge officers go off for some rest. So now, 8 hours after watching the Narada get sucked into a black hole Jim was sitting in Pike's chair whilst the Enterprise limped home on impulse only, the only one who had not yet rested, with the original bridge crew trying to ignore his litany of injuries and his deep fatigue.

Over the years Jim had found that concentrating on the pain might help keep him stay awake for a few more hours and so began to catalogue his extensive injuries. Broken ribs _definitely_, he thought trying to suppress a wince as his slight movement caused a torrent of white hot agony to course through his midsection. Jim was concentrating so hard on his inner dialogue that he missed the concerned and somewhat awed glances that his bridge crew shared with each other. Riding out the surge of pain that his movements had caused him Jim continued with his list of injuries. Frostbite on his hands from the ice climb, and damn he thinks that he may have re-fractured his them from the first time on the drill. Then of course there is his neck which throbs and aches like it is being compressed in a red-hot vice and his back which feels like it has a fucking canyon running down it. He is, he thinks, as damaged as his beautiful lady Enterprise. _Speaking of which, _Jim presses the com button on his chair barely suppressing a grimace as his abused hands protested at the movement and says, "Bridge to Engine room." Everyone on the bridge turns to face the Captain to see why he has broken the silence that has been maintained for the past few hours.

After a few moments Jim heard the almost incomprehensible reply of his newly crowned Chief engineer Montgomery 'Scotty' Scott, "Aye lady, what can I do for ye," Jim smiled internally at Scotty's brusque tone and chuckled out loud when he heard Scotty move from the comm and yell an unsavory insult at some unfortunate engineer which somehow involved his engineering prowess, his fashion sense and his 'unsightly features' in one breath. Jim heard shuffling indicating that Scotty had turned back to the comm as he muttered, "cretin." Suppressing a smile Jim said, "how ya doing down there Scotty?" "Ach, lad," came the reply "We could really use a few more pairs of hands, we got no warp and it be awful tricky to keep our lady running on jus' impulse." Jim considered his various aches and considered whether he would be able to assist, he weighed his options and considered that he would be able to conceal his pain for a while longer, _a Captain should not show weakness in front of his crew, _and besides, it wasn't like he had anywhere to sleep anyway. After considering this he said into the comm, "I could come give you a hand if you would like?" After feeling the incredulous eyes of his bridge crew Jim said defensively, "what?" "I was unaware that you had any proficiency with engines, Captain," came the measured tones of Spock, "yeah well…" began Jim sheepishly, "Enterprise got built right near to where I live, _lived_, I actually wrote my thesis on her." "Thesis Captain?" Jim heard the slight edge of surprise in Spock's voice and the astonishment in the gazes now trained on him from his bridge crew. "Um yeah, you know, for my Doctorate…?"

Feeling uncomfortable at the weight of the stares on him and at the quiet, "fascinating," from Spock, Jim turned his attention back to Scotty. He could hear the palpable relief in the Scotts' tone as he replied, "if ye would lad, I could use a pair o' skilled hand down here like a wool coat in Aberdeen." Jim smiled at the analogy and said, "I'll be down in a minute," and closed the comm link. He turned back to the bridge crew and met their stares as he repeated, "what?" It was Chekov who replied, "ve simply did not know you had a docowate." Jim smiled uncomfortably at that, "yeah, in advanced relativistic physics," he paused remembering, "the folks at the shipyard were real old friends and even let me have a look at her nacelles for my thesis," He broke of smiling fondly at the memory. Uhura was gazing up at him in slack mouthed disbelief, and he smiled up at her cheekily momentarily forgetting about his various pains, "I was actually celebrating finishing it up the night I met you," Uhura reluctantly chuckled at the memory then stopped and stated, "hang on, you finished your doctorate when you were _twenty two?_" Jim shuffled reluctantly in his chair ignoring the pain as he did so and said, "Um, yeah?" Spock moved to stand next to him and said, "that is a remarkably young age," here he paused, "why do you not chose to inform people of this fact?" Spock sounded genuinely curious and Jim answered a little uncomfortably, "same reasons I don't tell people my last name, I don't want to be liked for something other than being myself." He bowed his head before looking up at the surprised faces of his bridge crew which shone with newfound respect. Uneasy Jim forced a smile and a cheery tone, "anyways I betta go help Scotty before he assaults some poor ensign for being less clever than him." Putting on a brave face Jim attempted to jump to his feet which, as it turned out, was a very stupid idea.

Jim at once swayed on his feet and the edges of his vision whited out as an overwhelming amount of pain swept through him, he was unable to stop the sort of gasping sob that was ripped from his mouth just as he was powerless to stop the warm, strong hand that guided him gently back into his seat. He was incapable of seeing for a few moments and simply sat, taking shallow gasping breaths, trying not to lean on his ravaged back and cause more pain. When his vision finally cleared Jim saw, Chekov, Sulu, Uhura and Spock gathered around him in concern. "M'fine," Jim mumbled, Spock raised an eyebrow at this, and stated, "recent behavior would indicate the opposite to be true, I believe that the best course of action at this point would be to seek medical help. Jim flushed, "I don't think that I'll get down to sickbay," he said embarrassedly, Spock tilted his head, "then I will call a doctor here." "Get Bones… Dr McCoy," he amended at the blank looks aimed at him, "he's the only one who knows all my allergies." Spock nodded his acquiescence and indicated Uhura to call him from her station. Jim settled further in his chair and waited for the inevitable lecture.

A few minutes later the good doctor announced his presence on the bridge with a loudly exclaimed, "Dammit Jim!" Jim winced as Bones waved around his med kit threateningly. "Why the hell didn't you come to me before now?" Jim looked down and mumbled s'not that bad, plus you had Chris to worry about." "Not that bad, _not that bad _?"Jim winced as McCoy raised the decibel level much to the amusement of the officers around him. "For a damn genius you sure are stupid," Bones muttered as he busied himself running the tricorder over Jim's hunched form. "Well, ya dumb hick you re-fractured your damn hand, after I set it already." Damn, Jim thought Bones was not looking happy at that, he unconsciously hunched further into his seat as Bones continued to read out from the tricorder scan. "What in the hell… Ice burn? How in the name of God did ya manage to get ice burn on your hands Jim?" McCoy looked at Jim expecting an answer so Jim said, "that was from the ice climb," he looked up at Bones, "the pod sunk 20 foot into the ice, I had to climb a way out, no rope or gloves so my hands got a little cold." At the dumbfounded looks everyone sent him he said, "On Delta Vega," Spock looked down at that, Jim didn't say anything else and the doctor just grunted and started to scan elsewhere, at Jim's neck, which was covered by his shirt, he paused, before sending a look to Jim, "and this is nothing hmm?" With that he reached forward and dragged down the collar of Jim's shirt down revealing the sickening, lurid bruises ringing his neck. Jim sighed and heard many gasps above him, he forced his gaze to Spock who was looking appalled at what he had done, "don't worry Spock," he heard himself stay as he studied the identical looks of abject horror on Chekov's and Sulu's faces. "I certainly don't blame you, and it's not like you were the only one to go for my neck today." Spock still looked horrified and guilty, but curious at his last statement.

Before Spock could ask what he had meant the doctor interjected, "there are three sets of bruises, all made at different times during a period of about three hours." Here the doctor paused, 'only you Jim could get strangled three times in one day." Sulu tilted his head curiously, "who were the other two?" Jim, eyes fixed on a very interesting patch off floor, replied, "Nero and that point-eared _bastard_ Ayel." McCoy frowned at this and said, "the hands I can fix, but the throat is delicate we'll have to let the bruises heal by themselves." Jim nodded to show he understood and indicated that the doctor continue his scanning. When Bones reached his midsection he stopped outright and stared angrily up at Jim. "Shirt. Off." Bones managed to spit out through his clenched teeth, despite himself Jim weakly ground out, "at least take me for a drink first." McCoy's face grew an angry shade of red and he yelled, "SHIRT OFF NOW!" The bridge crew looked alarmed at whatever was making the doctor so angry so Jim reluctantly lifted his arms above his head so his shirt could be removed. Grasping the bottom of his shirt Bones lifted it gently over his head gaze hardening as Jim's torso came into view. His view cleared as the shirt was lifted over his head and Jim met the worried gazes of his command crew all looking in horror at his bared torso. Wanting to see what the fuss was about Jim looked down. Shit. His torso was a mess of black and blue, vivid bruises splashed across him with small cuts intermingling. It seemed to Jim that bruise was layered upon bruise in a horrific and garish color show across his chest of red, blue, green and yellow. "Five broken ribs," McCoy muttered to himself before turning his attention to Jim's mangled back, drawing in a soft intake of breath. McCoy seemed to steady himself, "only you Jim, only you, how in the hell are you still conscious… never mind coherent." Jim smirked up at him,' force of will Bones," "Pig-headed idiocy more lik," bones snorted but cracked a small smile as he pulled a dermal and osteo regenerator from his med bag as well as wrappings for Jim's hands and ribs, as well as a hypo dosed with pain reliever.

Half an hour later and Jim felt significantly better, that's not to say he felt good, far from it. But at least he no longer felt like keeling over at any moment. His ribs and hands were wrapped and there was a thin layer of gauze over the now-healing gash on his back. The entire bridge crew looked much more relaxed now that their Captain was out of immediate danger though Spock still looked horribly guilty. Jim was hefted out of his seat by Bones who proclaimed that he need rest. "But Bones I have nowhere to sleep," Jim mumbled shamefacedly. Bones looked at him with something unidentifiable on his face and stated, "you can sleep with me Jim, but no funny business." The crew caught Jim's words as he was half carried to the turbolift, "aww not even a little?" "Infant" mumbled Bones, and if anyone saw Jim's hand snake down and clamp on Bones' ass nobody said anything. And if anyone noticed Jim's cheerful whistling the next day on the bridge no one said a word.

**A/N: Sorry about the crummy ending I was running out of patience, anyway what do you think R&R.**

**Sorry if I said anything that doesn't exist in the trek 'verse, but I wasn't sure about some stuff and made up Jim's doctorate for he is captain awesome!**

**Rosanna xx :D**


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